Patrick M. Brenner

Writer. Thinker. Advocate.

@southwestpolicy

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

@FoxNews That's disgusting. Take a shower, filthy animals.

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

The Senate permitting bill answers a real problem. But states can already site regional power lines together: federal law consents to compacts among three or more neighbors. Congress could approve those in advance, rather than let FERC override a state. https://t.co/sej6e2zLzn

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

rent freeze, meet lending freeze. Freddie Mac has paused new loans on NYC rent-stabilized buildings while it weighs the fallout, and Fannie now underwrites them for 4 to 8 years of flat rents, The City reports. Somebody still has to pay for the boiler. https://t.co/aV2gxkRh0I

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

More than half of Massachusetts land zoned for single-family homes requires nearly an acre per house, per the National Zoning Atlas. Tuesday's Question 7 would allow a home on 5,000 sq ft lots with sewer and water. Starter homes need small lots. https://t.co/bfNFI2VKkK

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

ISO and the GHG Protocol said in Sept 2025 they would "harmonize their respective greenhouse gas standards and jointly develop new global rules."

@pmbrenner91 warns the framework "risks becoming embedded" in American regulatory systems.

https://t.co/LvF8I6SXuF

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

"More than 200 million bank accounts connect through Plaid alone," notes a 2025 white paper by @pmbrenner91 and Lucas J. Parker, arguing banks "must be permitted to recover the costs" of secure data transmission. The @CFPB's 2024 rule is enjoined (Nov 2026).

https://t.co/Arw52fJItD

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

Redwood City votes Tuesday on rent control: rents rolled back to Oct. 2025 levels, then raises capped at 60% of inflation or 5%. The city's consultant says running it could cost up to $11M a year. Caps ration the homes that exist. They don't add any. https://t.co/Fgzzo68h9O

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

California's Prop 37 would put buyers of new homes into a second mortgage for up to 17% of the price, at a rate the ballot doesn't set. On an $800,000 home, that's up to $136,000 more debt. Easier credit doesn't make homes cheaper. More homes do. https://t.co/ly9dtpSxnk

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

"'Incremental cost' has multiple meanings, and marginal cost is one of them."

After the Eighth Circuit's Oct. 26 debit-cap ruling, @pmbrenner91 argues the @federalreserve "should seek rehearing en banc."
https://t.co/fGqvVOt0Ce

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

A rule barring banks from charging for data access doesn't make the data free. "It sets the price at zero," @pmbrenner91 wrote in National Review (July 2026). His alternative: "Let banks and fintechs negotiate over the pipes."
https://t.co/xx5hrmJ47d

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

More than half of Massachusetts land zoned for single-family homes requires nearly an acre per house, per the National Zoning Atlas. Tuesday's Question 7 would allow a home on 5,000 sq ft lots with sewer and water. Starter homes need small lots. https://t.co/bfNFI2VKkK

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

bellingham votes tuesday on banning rent-pricing software. collusion is already illegal, and the doj's realpage settlement already bars realpage from using rivals' nonpublic rent data. apartments the ban would add: zero. https://t.co/cUQdF5nkoo

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

Shift 10% of big-truck freight to rail and you save 1.5 billion+ gallons of fuel a year, railroads told Congress. UP and NS project their merger takes 2.1 million truckloads a year off the road. It won't set diesel prices. It would burn less diesel. https://t.co/UajFnhqc30

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

When an account is overdrawn, "the bank instantly extends unsecured credit with no collateral, no underwriting, and no repayment guarantee."

@pmbrenner91 in @thehill (Sept. 2025): "Risk and price are inextricably linked."
https://t.co/bDImtfJCIZ

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

The @NAIC reported $161.4 million in 2024 revenue, but its key-employee pay isn't public. Michigan law requires NAIC to report it there. A policy brief by @pmbrenner91 urges other states: "Enact a Michigan-style reporting statute."
https://t.co/U8w3graZPS

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

Shift 10% of big-truck freight to rail and you save 1.5 billion+ gallons of fuel a year, railroads told Congress. UP and NS project their merger takes 2.1 million truckloads a year off the road. It won't set diesel prices. It would burn less diesel. https://t.co/UajFnhqc30

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

Banks charged 22.36% on credit card accounts carrying a balance in August, per the Fed. A 10% cap, now backed in both parties, won't make that risk cheaper. Lenders will just stop taking it, starting with the borrowers a cap is sold as helping. https://t.co/gF5Jg0Hh4n

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

Banks charged 22.36% on credit card accounts carrying a balance in August, per the Fed. A 10% cap, now backed in both parties, won't make that risk cheaper. Lenders will just stop taking it, starting with the borrowers a cap is sold as helping. https://t.co/gF5Jg0Hh4n

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

Under a national 10% card rate cap, issuers "would tighten underwriting standards, slash credit limits, eliminate rewards programs, and close accounts," argues @pmbrenner91 in @rc_markets.

"Credit lines once withdrawn are not automatically restored."
https://t.co/aSZ0Y6KG3X

[Patrick M. Brenner @patrickmbrenner]

FHFA's inspector general says the agency withheld records in at least three reviews, then pulled most of its funding. Staff were told up to 80% could be cut. FHFA says it cooperated. An agency shouldn't get to defund its own watchdog. https://t.co/TlUwEEvhFj

[Southwest Public Policy Institute @southwestpolicy]

"Fifty states delegated their rule-making to an organization they supposedly own."

@pmbrenner91 in The Wall Street Journal on the @NAIC: "The deliberations happen in a room a state resident can't enter and produce a record he can't read."
https://t.co/NPQs15WCSP